Admonition

Gary DeLashmutt

1 Thessalonians 5:14

Paul praises the Thessalonians for their love, but urges them to continue to excel, especially in the area of admonition. Despite our culture and pride that oppose correction, we are called to humbly receive correction and give correction to other believers out of love for them. As we participate in this task, there are several principles that lead to effective admonishment.

Righteous vs. Unrighteous Judgment

Dennis McCallum

Hebrews 5:14

We lack the ability to judge ourselves from an objective point of view, however God can judge us objectively. We should let God be the ultimate judge of our lives. In clear issues of moral failure we are called to discipline other believers in love.

Mental Transformation (Part 2)

Dennis McCallum

Ephesians 4:13-14

God has given us His Word as reliable truth that we can continually turn to. When we act on God's truth and study His Word we begin to grow into mature believers. God's Word feeds us like milk feeds a baby, moving us towards maturity.

Mental Transformation (Part 1)

Dennis McCallum

Acts 17:23-28

God made it clear that Christians are called not to conform to this world as we search for truth. God's truth is not relative but universal. However, we are able to conform to our culture on non moral and non truth based cultural norms. We are called to be in our culture, but not shaped by it.

Two Wisdoms or the Way of Humility

Dennis McCallum

Ephesians 2:8-9

Paul juxtaposes the human wisdom of this world and pride to God's wisdom and humbling yourself before God. We desire to earn our own salvation as we fix our lives, but God tells us that He is the way to salvation and that only He can offer lasting fulfilment and meaning. The cross is God's payment for humanities sins.

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Dennis McCallum

Luke 18

In this parable, Jesus first describes a Pharisee who goes to worship in the temple. He exemplifies a self-righteous attitude, minimizing and compartmentalizing his sin in order to tell himself that he is justified before God. In contrast, the tax collector realizes his sin for what it is and confesses this humbly before God and asks for God's mercy. It is this second character who returns home justified before God, as God's righteous standard is not a comparison of how we measure up against others, but against His own perfection. This teaching also includes a personal testimony from Dave Glover about his own experience with this concept.

Lessons in Humility and Pride

Dennis McCallum

Luke 14

Jesus teaches using parables while dining within the home of the leader of the Pharisees. He teaches on pride and humility, and God's desire to have a relationship with people. The lessons to learn are that we should be willing to take the lower seat and be humble, and that God will find people who want to relate to him.

The Good Samaritan

Dennis McCallum

Luke 10

Jesus interaction with an expert in the law shows our inability to keep God's law perfectly. Rather than try and use works to become right with God, Christ offers forgiveness through his death on the cross to fulfill God's law and have a relationship free from works. The expert in the law desired to be righteous on his own, so Jesus used a parable of the Good Samaritan to show that God's requirement of love requires initiative, compassion, meeting immediate and long-term needs, and a willingness to suffer discomfort. This was shown through Jesus' life as we are unable to love God and others perfectly but can have Jesus pay for our failures at love.

Three Lessons in Narrative

Dennis McCallum

Luke 9:46-56

We can learn a lot about Jesus in these three interactions with His disciples. The disciples are concerned with who is the greatest among them, competition with people outside of their group doing God's work, and their hatred of the Samaritans. Jesus confronts them with the fact that the greatest in His kingdom has the humility of a child, that those who aren't against them are for them, and that He came to love and save everyone.